The Price of Power
by Virilis
Summary: What is the price necessary to pay for the power that one needs to accomplish a goal? Your life? Your Blood? Devotion? What about for the Shinigami himself? NaruHina, SakuOC.
1. Chapter 1

If you clicked on the link to my Naruto fanfic expecting some kind of summary or plot leak, please think again. I'm not going to do that. All I will tell you is that you must read... and that Kishimoto owns Naruto.

You may have noticed that "The Price of Power" is listed as a NaruSaku story. It's not. Yes, you heard right. It is not a NarutoxSakura story. "Then why list it that way?" I listed it that way because they are the central characters of the story, but not paired together. I will focus on those two, along with an OC, as the main characters.

Edit: **You have been warned**. This was not some ploy to get readers to mistake my story for a NaruSaku fic. I selected it that way because it Naruto and Sakura are the main characters and there was no option to select two main characters. As of 12/31/09 2:12PM I have changed it to just Sakura because I will focus more on her and the OC. Naruto is still a the secondary main character (duh).

As you may or may not know, dialogue is very important to me. It fleshes out characters. But of course, descriptive paragraphs that give you more story are important too. I hope to fully utilize my potential as a fanfiction writer and impress you with this first chapter and give you an even bit of both.

Here is the beginning.

* * *

**Current Day of the Shinobi: 857**

"Fight! Keep pushing!" A man with a blue bandana wrapped around his head threw a kunai. He quickly glanced back, catching a glimpse of the small army behind him. Then in front, he saw the massive forces descending upon his people.

"Don't give up! Don't give up! Keep going!" He desperately tried to keep up the morale, but was failing. It was nearly impossible to, and he could understand why. The battle was seven hundred men and women of Kagegakure against thousands of legions. They were tired, hungry, and surrounded. The forces had been fighting all for the sake of a strategic battle point.

The reason as to why the were fighting in the first place?

Well it was the discovery of chakra! The energy source that drove all the ninja in the battle. It gave the military factions of the nations an excuse to test out their new found power. It wasn't a very good reason, but was one nonetheless, and fueled the fire to the passions of those who were hungry for war. Along with those reasons, chakra gave new meaning to the way of life. It shook the foundations of the existing society and restructured it in a militaristic way. No, there were no kage leaders at this point, just soldiers and samurai... and the people who had learned to use this new deadly weapon.

The Kage-nin swore as a few more of his allies fell. He turned around to gaze upon one of the core reasons they were even willing to fight in this suicidal battle.

The summon. His people, like all other nations, discovered the existence of beings that were able to be summoned. His own village found theirs approximately a two years after the discovery of chakra, not long before the battle. With such little time, they had very little experience with their summon boss.

However, the summoned being was not normal, meaning it was not like the others. It was not a bird, nor it was a snake, nor a animal or creature known to man. Instead, it was one that required more sacrifice. More fearful. More deadly. More extreme.

A man standing next to the summon dropped to his knees, panting in exhaustion.

"Please! Shinigami-sama! Show us your power!"

The summon slowly turned his head, and gave a only an icy glare.

The people began to cry out in fear for their lives. What was the point if their trump card didn't fight? Then he replied,

"Show me your devotion, only then will I fight!"

That had silenced them, turning them back to the fires of hell on the battlefield. Seeing this the Shinigami lord relaxed his crossed arms and turned his hands into fists, raising them over his head slowly. Then he tensed, and with light speed brought them down, bringing into existence a twin set of chakra blades that extended over three and a half feet each, screeching and crackling with sharpened energy. The great death god flashed into the middle of the enemy soldiers and in the blink of an eye, he had wiped out over a third of the enemy forces. In that one blink, over 400,000 ninja had left for the afterlife.

Immediately the offending army halted and began to form a defensive perimeter. But what does that do against a being that controls the flow of life itself? But of course, the enemy was foolish, thinking that their almighty chakra could save them. Clearly they had not studied it enough before going to war.

The Shinigami had already retreated to the front line of his army and gazed upon the approaching enemies. They could not see his face, for it was covered by a white mask. The only thing they could see was his eyes.

His cold, fearsome eyes.

He raised his hand and pointed his palm outwards toward the army of thousands. Gathering an immense amount of chakra, the Kage ninja could see that their summon boss was collecting and condensing a colossal amount of chakra.

Then there was a bright flash, and all the people on the battlefield knew no more.

* * *

**Current Day of the Shinobi: Eight Years After Time-Skip **(from Manga)

"Naruto-kun, here is the paperwor-" Shizune walked in, holding a stack of sheets that needed signing.

"Aargh! No more documents, I've been doing them all day! Dattebayo!" The blonde-haired, blue-eyed ninja shouted in frustration and jumped up from his desk. "And where's my miso pork ramen that I ordered!?" He grumbled.

"B-but the Fire Daimyo-"

"I don't care what the Fire Daimyo says! He can wait until I have my miso pork ramen!"

"But as Hokage you-"

"Exactly my point, dattebayo! I'm the freakin' hokage of all people! I should be able to have Ichiraku ramen whenever I want!"

"Naaruuttooooooo! Shannaro!" The color from Uzumaki Naruto's face drained.

"Oh shit."

Suddenly, a fingerless, gloved fist came out of nowhere and hit the man in the face, sending him flying into the wall.

"Geez, that baka never learns-"

_Poof!_

Haruno Sakura glared. Shizune stuttered. The ANBU team waiting outside frowned, fearing for their beloved, number-one hyperactive, unpredictable ninja.

* * *

Somewhere in Konoha, at the Ichiraku Ramen stand, the Nanadaime Hokage sneezed as he dropped his chopsticks.

"Achoo!"

"Boy, you got a cold there?" Old man Teuchi smiled, hiding a smirk. Naruto shook his head.

"Nah, I think _someone_ is just talking about me," the blonde shook his head, knowing well from his clone's memories who was going to be after his guts soon.

"Well, we can't have the Hokage get sick, you know? Here's another bowl on the house!" Ayame slid another large bowl of steaming ramen his way.

"Yeah! Dattebayo!"

* * *

"Sometimes, gaki, I wonder..." A familiar pervert sighed. The Toad Sannin looked down at the form crumpled on the hokage office's floor. Littered with cuts and bruises with his face reorganized to look like a mashed fruit, Uzumaki Naruto was not feeling well at the moment.

"Ow... ba-cha... thakura-cha... couth you pleath fith my faith."

"Fix your faith?" Shizune raised an eyebrow.

"Er... I think he means fix his face," Shikamaru stated grimly... and with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Troublesome."

"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata frowned and rubbed the ring on her finger, then held the blond's hand. Everyone looked at their current hokage and let a sweat drop fall down their own faces.

"Sakura, if you will," Tsunade gestured. "And brat! This wouldn't have happened if you had just done those assignments like a good hokage! Instead you left a clone to do the work and even he couldn't do it right!" Everyone let another sweat drop fall. Eventually, with the help of the trusty-green medical chakra, the Uzumaki's face looked normal again. He clicked his teeth and felt for any abnormalities. The hyperactive ninja then let out a bright smile and got to his feet, brushing off the dust from his shoulders.

"Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard with the kage-bunshin trick. Heheh." He scratched the back of his head.

Everyone gave him a raised eyebrow. Including Hinata.

"A-Anyway! About the Fire Daimyo! W-what did he say?" Naruto was sweating in fear of his life in front of the two scariest women in Konoha. Actually scratch that. Make that three. His dark haired, white-eyed wife was glaring at him. And when that happened things weren't going good for him.

"Well," Shizune began, "the Daimyo has sent in a request for a team to be dispatched along the border. He feels that Iwa is moving to close to our borders again. The Daimyo of Wind also feels that we should be more protective of our borders. Gaara has sent word that he too is gathering shinobi to set a defensive perimeter."

"Again?" Naruto was the one to raise his brow this time. "I thought that we had cleared up that little problem."

"Yeah, but new intel has arrived," Shikamaru took his turn to explain. "My team and I were on our patrol, just as you ordered, and we intercepted another group – not of our own – along the border. Behavior and strategy patterns, and the way they were equipped tells us that they are ninety-eight percent Iwa-nin. The other two-percent being the possibility that it could be a set-up for us to take a bait laid by another enemy. But I figured that was unlikely in this case."

"True," Naruto pondered. "It does seem weird with the policies the new Tsuchikage brought up and put into effect last week. It was kinda... different than the other old flying geezer's."

"Naruto!" Sakura hushed. "You shouldn't speak of the former Tsuchikage like that. He was a respected ninja."

"Yeah, yeah I know, but he's retired now... just like a certain _somebody!_" He held in a laugh as Tsunade's vein on her forehead bulged. "Alright, alright, baa-chan you don't have to look so angry. Eheh... heheh..." He turned to his ANBU members. "So we're going to do it like this. Two teams of ANBU. Shikamaru, you take your team east and then start a reconnaissance search westbound. Sakura, you..."

He trailed off as he met her eyes. He sighed.

She only took solo missions of S-Rank status or higher.

"...You can go this one by yourself. Again... You all have twenty-four hours to prepare. Dismissed!"

* * *

Naruto was walking along the road with a beautiful brunette at his side. His wife and love of his life, the woman who had made him realize in the midst of battle that he did indeed have a shot at love... and long gone were her stuttering ways. Well, most of the time anyway. The best part of it was that Naruto really enjoyed talking to her with their shortened names. He thought it was rather cute how they did it.

"Naru-kun, what have I told you about skipping your duties as hokage?"

"Er well, Hina-channn... Uh.... Um.... You said..."

"You know what I said..."

"B-but!"

"I promised you I would keep my word, it's my nindo..." She winked at him.

"Nooooo..." The blonde Hokage lost the will to speak.

Out of all the lucky times he'd had in life, today, his luck was just running thin.

No sex for a week and the hyperactive ninja was very non-hyper about that.

* * *

Sakura packed her things, making sure that she had all the right medical equipment and the standard ANBU weapon set. He kunai holster was tightly wrapped around her right thigh, and the extras strapped to the side of her lower legs. Her pouch was sealed and her ninjato (ninja sword) was on her back. The last thing was her mask.

She picked it up, and let her eyes wander over it. There were a few scratches, but nothing too detrimental to the piece itself. The colors seemed to dance in the moonlight coming from window with vibrant shades of red and pink. She put it on, and became "Cat." Jumping out that very same window, she headed for main gates, ready to start another mission alone.

* * *

A/N: How was that? Haha!

So how did I do? Did I portray characters correctly?

If I didn't it might be because it's only first chapter, and the second is well on it's way!


	2. Chapter 2

So here is the second chapter where we see that Sakura's mission begins.

BTW, I made an EDIT in the beginning of Chapter 1 right before it begins. This fic is now focused on Sakura until further notice. May change it later if necessary.

Once again, I do not own Naruto. Do I have to say this every chapter?

* * *

Sakura jumped and bolted through the darkness of night, leaving branches to shake and leaves to flutter behind her.

She wanted to get to the patrol area fast. It was better to get this mission over with and then on to the next one. This was her way of doing things now... ever since Naruto had brough Sasuke back.

Three years since Sasuke had setted down in Konoha...

* * *

_Flashback Start_

"Naruto!" Sakura cried as she ran passed the crowds of people gathering at the front of the pathway.

The Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki limped through the gates, dragging a bloodied figure. Not that he was bloody himself. In fact, Naruto was definitely more beat up than the raven-haired shinobi next to his feet. His arms were soaked in his dark red fluids, and his right eye tightly shut with evidence of bruising. His clothes were tattered and cut, and his father's cloak battered, dirtied, and ripped. The blonde's ribs looked to be broken the way he held his left arm protectively over his chest, and the limping leg showed signs of a broken thigh. However, despite the extreme damage to his body one thing never failed to break. His shining smile flashed brightly at the crowd, clearly expressing his joy in victory over his former teammate and success in bringing said ninja back to his home village.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted again. She immediately began to check her leader for fatal injuries. There were none.

"Sakura-chan, I'm okay. I think the teme needs your medic abilities more than me." She acknowledged his will and began to let her hands glow green as she hovered them over the Uchiha's body. There was some internal bleeding, but nothing too serious that she couldn't handle. Letting her chakra run like magic, the major problems were fixed in minutes.

Then the ANBU in uniform appeared. They attempted to be quick about putting the nuke-nin into Konoha jail, but Naruto raised his hand and put them to a halt.

"He's resigned himself. No need." One of them tilted their head in confusion. "He's given up. The bastard won't run away anymore, I made sure of it."

He then turned to the council members that were now ahead of the crowd. The blue-eyed ninja gave them a firm stare indicating that he wouldn't let them have their way. In fact, they knew that he was adamantly against any idea of executing his long lost friend, and they would pay if they tried. Most of them even felt sympathetic for the Uzumaki's life-long efforts to bring back his best friend. So instead of arguing they decided to leave the matter entirely in their hokage's hands.

* * *

Several months after Sasuke's return word was sent out that the he would be reinstated as the Uchiha head, but with limitations on his social power. The restrictions were meant to be in effect as a form of punishment for the vast troubles that the raven-haired ninja had caused, which he accepted without a struggle. He would face house-arrest for two years along with constant ANBU watch until the Hokage came to do a revision. Then if the Hokage felt it was alright, Uchiha Sasuke would be given limited freedom.

Limited because he was technically the last Uchiha. That and the fact that the council had decided to grant the three next-generation Konoha Sannin status.

Putting that aside, surprisingly, he had married his Team Hebi's and Akatsuki's teammate Karin. This brought a lot of shock to the Rookie 9 as they had believed Sasuke would at least try to repair his relationship with Sakura.

Naruto he had no problem with. But the rift between Sakura and he were still left wide open, and it was expected that the man at least try to repair the broken bond. When questioned by his male teammate, Sasuke simply replied, "Her eyes have changed," and left it at that. Naruto was merely left confused, but let it be.

However, Sakura took more offense and it brought her a lot of pain. To her, she felt that Sasuke was her one shot at getting things back to the way it used to be, including love. Now that Naruto dating Hinata, and Sasuke with Karin, she was the one left behind.

In fact, she was the one left behind in all of the Rookie 9.

In terms of power, she was the third strongest, trailing barely behind Naruto and Sasuke. But in terms of love she was still back to square one. Ino, her best friend, was in a happily arranged marriage with Chouji, even with his ginormous eating habits. Shikamaru, despite Gaara's best efforts, succeeded in courting in the sand-beauty Temari. Neji had already been married to Tenten for a year and a half. Shino had married another Aburame and were in a firm relationship. Kiba was actually still looking around, dating women left and right... which Sakura was not liking one bit. And Rock Lee had apparently found love in Gai sensei's uncle's sister's son's daughter. Er.

It was obvious that she was even more behind than the little ones. Konohamaru and Moegi were going out, and they were even helping Udon find his own girlfriend!

It really upset the Haruno that she was last on the Love-O-Meter.

Since the Uchiha's marriage to the former Sound-nin, she drowned herself in work and missions. Over the course of time she rapidly accelerated the level of difficulty and was known to only take S-Rank missions or higher. Since then her reputation had soared, but her social standing lost foundation among friends.

The female medic ANBU gave herself no time for anything anymore. Simply duty.

_Flashback End_

* * *

The pink-haired ANBU jumped down from a high branch to the lower level of the leaves. She quietly crouched and shifted her weight forwards so that she could peer out towards the ground from a precise angle that gave here a wild field of vision. Slipping out a kunai from her holster, the Haruno prepared herself to throw at moments notice. Currently, there were five unidentified targets making their way rather suspiciously through the forest floor. By gradually feeding tiny bits of chakra to her eyes, Sakura's vision extended an extra twenty meters allowing her to see their headbands. It was still dark, but the extra energy allowed her some night-vision.

The kunoichi confirmed five shinobi, but they definitely were not Iwa-nin.

Tilting her head to the side, she pondered on that thought for a minute. She had three options. Either the female ninja confront them, neutralize them for interrogation, or report back to the hokage. Seeing that they the headbands they wore were unknown, as an ANBU she need to gather more information, so going back to Konoha was not an option. And right now approaching them directly them was not a good idea. The medic ninja had no idea if they had hostile intentions. So she would lay in wait to decide if she should take option one or two.

Silently following them from above, Sakura trailed slightly behind them, listening on their every word.

"Dammit!" The lead ninja whispered in frustration. Clearly he was upset about something.

"How much longer?" The man directly behind him asked quietly. Almost so quietly that Sakura had to strain her ears to hear.

"Not long, maybe about three more days. We only came through Fire-Country's lands to take a shortcut, but it's so much riskier. Too many risks..." This told Sakura they were either rogue ninjas or ninja bandits.

"Maybe you should have thought about that _before_ we came through," a blue-haired girl retorted. The brown-haired girl next to her snickered.

"Quiet," a young boy froze, alerting the group. Sakura froze along with them, hoping she hadn't been found out. Breathing as quietly as they could, both parties tried to locate the other ninja's intentions. It was obvious that the unknown shinobi were aware of the ANBU's presence, but luckily for the green-eyed shinobi, they didn't know who, what, where, or how many. The ninja hidden in the leaves took this to her advantage and maneuvered around the trunk of the tree without sound.

The leader of the group tried to calm himself as his heart began to beat faster. It was so loud that he could hear it thumping within his ears. Breathing in and out slowly, he eventually regained his composure and crouched low to the ground. Signaling the rest of his squad to do likewise, they lay in wait for the enemy to attack.

Seeing that she had no other choice but to engage, Sakura threw a flurry of kunai with flash-bangs attached. Using the confusion as a counter to any opposition, she dashed around as her targets were disoriented. From behind she immediately delt a low kick to on of the men, effectively bending the knee the wrong way and breaking it. He screamed as he fell, causing his fellow ninja to turn and apprehend the pink-haired ANBU. Of course, she had the upper hand. Running in a low stance with her hands to her side, the medic kunoichi formed chakra scalpels on her hands. She tried to sever the second man's tendons but he drew a katana with absurd speed.

The young Slug-Sannin retreated backwards, calculating several strategies. She didn't really want to reveal anything too unique, and her super-strength was definitely a dead giveaway as to who she was. Her standard-issue ANBU ninjato wasn't an option either, because she hadn't trained enough with it, nor did she ever have an opportunity to use it. Sakura didn't want to start using something she had no skill with and risk losing.

Just as she was about to jump back into the fray, the two girls threw several poison bombs in her direction, forcing her to retreat further.

Using a smaller sized bomb to blow the deadly gases away, Sakura tried her best not to inhale any poison. As soon as the smoke cleared she swore as the squad was running away towards the border. Shockingly they were pretty fast considering that they had one injured squad member to carry. Regardless, it was her mission to investigate in their arrival and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" The second man from before shouted. It was no point in staying quiet that they were found out and he had no intention of holding in his anger.

"This is all your fault you asshole!" The blue-eyed girl yelled to the boy. "If only you didn't speak so loud!"

"But I only said one word." He expressionlessly replied. "And it wasn't that loud either."

"That's the point!" She cried back, "You weren't quiet enough either!"

He simply stared ahead as the pink-haired ANBU chased them from behind.

* * *

A day had passed.

After much stress and moments of hair-pulling situations the squad had gotten away from the fearsome pink-haired Konoha ninja. If she was still on their trail they didn't know. But they were at least able to get some rest.

Thankfully though, because of the high-speed, forced chase they were able to shorten their expected trip by half. One more hour or so and they would arrive at their destination. But that didn't mean they didn't have to lose her.

Or better yet...

The leader's face donned an evil smile.

* * *

Sakura was almost upon them.

To her knowledge, she was a long way from Konoha. Maybe even several hundred miles away from Fire-Country in general. Honestly, due to the pursuit of five targets, she didn't know. All she knew was that she head east from the border and hit the coastline. From there, the ninja squad took a ship out to sea. Though it was quite embarrassing to admit, she missed her chance to get on the ship.

So she got on another one heading in the same direction the only way she knew a ninja could.

Using a henge to change her appearance to that of a traveling merchant she paid her fees and took a ride out to the ocean. When the two ships were close enough, she dove into the water and swam to her target. Then using chakra she climbed onto the deck. From there she hid within the ship's cargo bay until it was safe to get out.

Several hours had passed, and from the window she could tell it was night again.

The ship had docked on an island, and her targets were on the move again. But this time they were unaware of her following. Sakura wanted to keep the element of surprise on her side so she took a more careful approach this time and followed from a further distance, making it harder for the group to track her.

As she followed, the pink-haired girl looked at her surroundings. This was nowhere she knew. And trusting the facts, Sakura had almost completely memorized every known map available in the libraries of Konoha's intelligence department. As far as she knew, the "nerdy ninja" figured it was an uncharted island used to smuggle in contraband. However, that theory was out until she confirmed the evidence. For now, she had to focus on following the enemy.

After another two hours of trekking up the mountains, she realized that the island was way too large to hide anything. The rest of the ninja world would have found it already.

Then why did she not see any signs of life other than the ship at shore and the ninja squad she was tailing? It didn't make any sense.

Just as she thought that she noticed that the enemy shinobi were making their way inside some sort of tunnel on the side of the mountain. She hurried to keep up, hoping that she wouldn't lose them inside some kind of labyrinth. Stepping inside, she tracked her prey by making out footprints made out in the heavy amounts of dust. That made it easy and she couldn't help but smirk at the idiocy of these ninja. They were in such a hurry that they didn't bother to cover up their tracks.

After some long, agonizingly intense moments of trying not to be found out, Haruno Sakura found herself in some kind of grand hall or colossal ceremony room of some sort.

There were huge stone pillars about three meters in diameter that made her look like an insect. The columns completely dwarfed her size. The room was roughly about the size of two football fields, but made of stone and covered in giant cobwebs from years of being undisturbed. Trying not to give out an echo, she shifted her feet slowly around the pillars. When the medic-nin peeked out from behind the pillar she noticed her targets.

They were standing, with one exception, in front of some sort of large light source. It was circular, like a shining mirror. The three males and two females, in unison, raised their hands toward the light.

Then in a single motion they clapped their hands together and let out a burst of chakra that reverberated around the stone chamber that caused the dust to fall from all around. Sakura used all her willpower not to sneeze.

Whatever the ninja were doing, Sakura felt that she had to stop it soon before they unleashed whatever it was they were trying to do. So to foil their plans, the Haruno jumped into the middle of it all, confusing the hell out of them... or so the Sannin thought.

It was just then that she noticed they were laughing... and that her body was frozen stiff.

Backing away, the men and women of the squad gave her smirks and looks of mock-pity. She squirmed to try and get away, but some unknown force held her in place.

The leader with the broken leg spoke.

"You will die here, just like all the corpses that lay before you," he laughed. Her eyes darted left and right, finally realizing that he was right. There were skeletons and bones everywhere. Most of them had crescent marked headbands like the ninja before her. "We will use you as a sacrifice, ha! Hahahahaha!"

* * *

Back in Konoha, Naruto and Sasuke were having another evaluation meeting to check on Sasuke's progress in integrating back into Konoha.

Chewing silently on their dango, they sat patiently waiting for the other to speak. Then at the same time, the two reached for their respective tea cups... but both cracked under some unknown pressure. Snapping their gazes to each others' eyes, thoughts began to race through their minds.

Their wives were having a good time in the next room, and nothing had happened there so...

The two instantly began to wonder if their old teammate and friend was alright.

* * *

Back in the mountain chamber, said teammate and friend was in a current predicament. She was stuck and had no idea how in the world she would get out. With all the possibilities blurring through her mind, none rose to the top. Sakura was panicking.

Something bad was going to happen, and she was going to pay for it.

Suddenly, the ninjas before her began to flee. Taking notice, she wondered what could have made them run like so. Was it that the jutsu used to hold her was going to wear off? The Slug-Sannin laughed.

"Hah! Who's running now? Shanna-"

A loud, odd, watery-like noise filled the air from behind her. Having been shaken by the eerie sound, Sakura stood still out of fright. Whatever it was, she was not prepared to face it. Making her best efforts to turn her head, Sakura applied chakra to her neck and tried to strengthen the turn. Slowly, but surely, she began to turn her head bit by bit. Then when her eye met the sight of the portal she gasped. Cold sweat began to form over her body as she lay in dread.

The portal had now turned dark, having become like dark water-like liquid. A white-gloved hand with a black knuckle-guard was emerging from the other side with the substance sticking to it, like it was trying to pull it back. But to no avail, the black mass was unable to bring the hand back into the abyss. Soon, a black forearm guard attached to the respective limb came through. Then the upper arm, then the armored shoulder with an odd circular, crescent-moon-like ornaments attached came through. Then the arm snapped back an the hand grabbed the edge of the mirror-portal.

It tensed, as if it was attempting to pull the rest of the body out. Well, Sakura assumed it was a body. To confirm her assumption, a white-masked face came through. The mask covered the entire head, with an older shinobi-samurai like look. Almost like the legendary Hayabusa helmet that she read in the Ninja Folklore Collection. Only it was decorated with shades of black here and there... and that the plate that covered the mouth was in two pieces. One to cover the nose and upper mouth while the lower one appeared to cover the entire jawline and up.

Where the two pieces met were two pair of "teeth" formed from the edges of the plate. They looked quite lethal.

However, the one thing that scared into the medic-ANBU's heart the most area of the eyes. Behind the mask seemed to be nothing but a dark void.

Then then yellow eyes with black pupils opened from the mask, and the mouth opened up, sounding a tiger-like roar.

Her body wracked in fear.

* * *

Outside, the ninja wait on the shore-line. They wait for the ship to quickly stock up on the island supplies then leave.

"We Shadow Ninja sure showed that Konoha ANBU," the leader laughed. "Now we will have the Dark Lord to fight for us again... and Kagekagure shall rise again as the most powerful ninja village."

"Mmm," the second man nodded his head in agreement. "But how do you know that the summoned Master will accept our sacrifice?"

"Because she's a virgin!" The first laughed.

"How do you know!?" The brown haired girl of the five shouted, trying to hide a blush.

"'Cause Toki-kun here can sense these things!" The man pat the young boy's back. Despite the praise the boy remained emotionless.

"This guy?" The blue-haired girl raised an eyebrow and let her head tilt in question.

* * *

Sakura had no more chakra to keep her head turned and the force caused it to whiplash it back into place. She pit her lip in pain. Trying to keep her calm, the ninja began to breathe regularly, but to know avail. A frown appeared on her face and her heartbeat began to rise. Sweat poured down her face and her clothes stuck to her body. The mask that was on her face held by the chakra-now-gone clattered to the floor, breaking the deep silence. Thoughts flew through her mind like kunai thrown at light-speed and not one could be caught in time to keep herself occupied from the inevitable doom behind her.

Then like an old man who breathed his last, all thoughts ceased.

The masked face was now right next to hers, looking in the same direction.

Heavy breathing could be heard. The breath could be seen. The presence could be felt.

But all Sakura really could notice was her own heartbeat pounding throughout her entire head.

* * *

Five Kage-nin on the sands of shore laughed and tossed around fruits found in the jungle, taking bites, waiting for their Summon to appear.

Then the mountain exploded inside-out.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry, the chapter ends here. Too bad.

So that was Chapter 2. I hope I gave a proper fill-in on the past years of Naruto up until this point.

Please give reviews on Sakura's encounter!


	3. Chapter 3

Heheh. Rock Lee's with Gai sensei's uncle's sister's son's daughter (Chapter 2). Lolz.

But anyway, let's get back on topic. I won't bore you with all that author's note stuff. Here's chapter 3:

* * *

Sakura stood absolutely still as the summoned being stood next to her. Desperately trying to ignore the eerie silence around the two, she shut her eyes, but the summon's deep mask-breathing was really starting to creep her out.

It shook her conscience even more when a low animal-like growl rumbled near her ear.

Finally, she could not take it anymore and whipped her head around. She nearly jumped, but of course the invisible restraints were keeping her on the spot.

Two pair of narrowed yellow eyes hidden in darkness glared at here. The fact that the mask had pointed fang-like shapes made her shiver. It was as if she was looking into the face of a metallic-white devil with shadows painted onto his armor.

The pink-haired medic wanted to scream, but her fear prevented her from doing so. And it wasn't her that broke the silence.

"Why have you summoned me?" a man's voice spoke softly. It surprised her. In fact, the voice wasn't scary at all. From that one question Sakura had figured the person to actually be a gentle person, but the armor contradicted their original nature. The Sannin took her chances. Her voice quivering, she dared to reply.

"W-wha... I-I didn't... w-who are you?"

He chose not to reply. Instead, the summon took a few steps back and walked around to face her directly. The man – she assumed it was a man – continued to glare at her through the slits of his mask, while his golden-yellow eyes seemed to radiate a slight bit of light of their own. Suddenly, he almost caused her to jump as he raised his hands and slowly, they rose...

… closer and closer to her neck.

… they were inches away from her throat. The kunoichi squeezed her eyes shut for the inevitable.

Then she felt a firm amount of pressure on her shoulders. Popping one eye open, Sakura peered over to her left and saw that the warrior-like summon had actually put his hands on them instead of strangling her to death. The medic-nin noticed he had closed his eyes and she felt a rush of energy fill her being, causing her to gasp in shock. The vice-grip on her body was beginning to lift, freeing her from the invisible trap. Eventually, within a minute's time she was able to move without obstruction.

Flexing her arms and stretching a little, the Slug-Sannin checked for any problems within her system. There were none.

Now, the Konoha ANBU unit faced the samurai-summon to ask him again.

"Who are you?" she asked, all trace of fear gone from her voice.

He replied with a question of his own.

"Why have you summoned me?"

"I told you," the girl huffed. "I didn't summon you. I'm the Slug-Sannin of Konoha, I summon slugs!" He paused at that.

"You mean Katsuya?" This caused her to freeze before she recollected her thoughts, ignoring the fact that he addressed the Slug Queen without honorifics.

"Y-you know her?"

"Ah... I even know Gamabunta and Manda. I know all the Summon Heads."

"So..." the green-eyed female pondered for a second. "You... are a Summon Head too?"

"Sort of. I guess."

"What does that mean?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I was sort of exiled, making me the last of my selected brethren."

"Oh." The ninja's face turned into a bit of a sad and confused frown. "So what are you?"

He smirked. Laughed a little even.

"You summoned me without even knowing what you were summoning?"

"I told you!" Sakura gave a frustrated frown and crossed her arms. "I didn't summon you! I was forced into a trap while all my chakra was drained and these five Kage-nin did this weird hand-seal! Like this!" She clapped her hands together and let a small burst of revitalized chakra.

He narrowed his eyes, then relaxed again. The young woman across from him looked at him, expecting an answer.

"I'll ask you again. What are you?"

"I..." She leaned forward so she could listen to him better. "There is no consequence for having summoned me involuntarily. But once I let you know what I am, you must sign my contract for I am the last of my kind and there must be a suitable summoner until I can restore my clan."

At that specific phrase, she was reminded of a raven-haired Uchiha and the Haruno immediately didn't like where this was going.

"Er... can't you just tell me?"

"There is a price for everything. I'll warn you though. For the knowledge you seek to gain, the summons you will gain require sacrifice, but it does not always have to be in blood. In fact, I always demand my price _after_ I'm summoned... and either way. You're stuck with me."

"W-what!?" She tensed.

"Technically, you gave the most chakra in the summoning procedure. And I'm a permanent summon. Meaning I don't leave until you or I die."

Her mouth dropped open.

"... meaning you still owe me something."

"This... ugh..." her hands grasped her forehead as a huge migraine came on. Sakura was seriously debating to whether accept the offer or just reject everything. "Alright. But you have to help me get out of here and get finish my mission! My chakra levels are still so low..."

"Okay then, you've given consent and I can tell you exactly what I am!" He announced in a chipper voice. Then his aura turned dark and gloomy, putting the shinobi on edge.

"I am..."

Once again, Sakura leaned forward to hear the answer she was so curious for.

"... a Shinigami."

* * *

_Five Kage-nin on the sands of shore laughed and tossed around fruits found in the jungle, taking bites, waiting for their Summon to appear._

_Then the mountain exploded inside-out._

* * *

"You didn't have to blow up the whole mountain! Y-you're so reckless!" Sakura shouted over the repercussions of the explosion, her arms wrapped around her permanent-summon's neck, lying on his back. They were currently flying through the air, floating from the blast of the explosion as the winds carried them to be exact.

"You told me to help you out!" He grunted in annoyance.

"That doesn't mean you have to cause so much damage!" The vein on her forehead bulged.

"Looks like you're over the shock rather quickly!" He laughed.

"Hey! I've seen and experienced worse." The pink haired girl couldn't hold in her giggle. "By the way," She poked her head over his shoulder. "you didn't tell me your name!"

"My name?" He tilted his head in thought. "Human beings, along with many friends across time, have known me as Yamato Shou, but the gods have another name for me."

"Which is..."

"Susanoo."

Haruno Sakura gasped. She was currently riding on the back of the infamous deity of Old Legend.

* * *

The five Kage ninja were in panic.

One moment, they were laughing and running, enjoying a hot summer day, but the next the group was in a massive state of confusion and fear from a display of absolute, sheer terror of some unknown force. Logically they assumed it was an angry summon that didn't have a sufficient sacrifice. Or something went horribly wrong. Or the summon didn't happen at all and the seals blew up. Or there was a trap that the Konoha ANBU set up.

They just didn't know and needed to find out, but they needed to just focus and regroup as thousands of debris weighing tons fell around them. One mistake and they would be done for. Seeing that they had no other choice, the five shinobi ran out into the water and used chakra to keep afloat.

After five minutes and running and stressful moments dodging clumps of dirt and rocks the size of horses and buildings, they could settle down. At the only disturbance present was the water forming in waves back and forth.

When they had gathered together, the burst into frantic shouts and yelling. Only until Toki stared at the shore, the blue-haired female noticed.

"What is it, Azumi?" The leader questioned.

"Um... Taka-sensei... Isn't that..."

"Aaah!" the brown-haired girl shouted in disbelief and pointed.

"Ssh! Sakuya!" He hushed. He looked at the other jounin. "Daichi, look."

The other man looked at the shore and let his lips part in utter shock and denial of what was happening. But it was reality. There was no way to deny it.

Their summon was giving a ride to the one they intended to sacrifice.

* * *

Currently, at the water's edge near the shore, Shou – or Susanoo – let Sakura down. Then he walked forward, keeping a tight grip on her hand. Surprised, she hopped along until she caught up to his pace. The girl snapped a mad glare at him, but he ignored, keeping his gaze forward.

Suddenly, jerking to a stop, Sakura had to stop before she went ahead of him. She was rather annoyed at his bad manner of not informing her of his actions.

The Shinigami looked at the five, and gave them a stern, cold stare.

Then he unexpectedly blurted out,

"You guys screwed up."

The looks on their faces were of sheer confusion. Shou let out a disappointed sigh and gave a facepalm.

"You know, when you try and summon your _own_ summon, see it to the end! Take responsibility!"

"H-huh!?" the Kage jounin Taka gave an annoyed expression of disbelief. "H-How can you say that! We summoned you! And then we left because we didn't know if you would try to take us for sacrifices!"

"Uh... I guess you guys haven't even studied up on your own culture and history either. You shame the Kage nation."

"What!?" Daichi shouted. "We worked so hard to get to this point! We spent years of endless days and nights looking for the special locations suitable for your calling! After bringing you back from Yomi!"

The Shinigami-Lord narrowed his eyes and formed fists.

"Yeah, Hell wasn't so fun. It's not all drinks and parties as they say..." He had a grim tone. Then he commanded them, "By the Old Covenant I am your Kage! Kneel!"

Looks of shock were donned on the five enemy ninja. It was true. But this was not the way they planned things to go. In fact, they had thought that the summoned being would be called upon to serve _them_, not the other way around.

Each of the five ninja looked at each other and were having silent struggles within their own minds. After two minutes, their leader broke the silence.

"This... we didn't summon you to be ruled by you. We already have a Kagekage, his name is Fujiyama Ryuu! Fuck you demon!"

Sakura tensed at that phrase, reminded of a familiar blonde she knew at home, just like she did with Shou's prior comment. On the other hand, mister-god-of-storm was not pleased.

"Then may the heavens spare you from my wrath." the armored death-god raised his right hand, keeping his right hand firmly gripped around his companion the whole time. The Kage shinobi and kunoichi drew their kunai, hoping to defend themselves from the inevitable. But what came next was something they were not in the least prepared for.

A whirlpool was formed beneath their feet and began to draw them in. The ninja pounced several meters away and were forced to run in place along with the moving water to avoid being sucked in. But then in that instant a lightning flashed and winds blew. A spark from the electricity caught onto the flowing air and a fiery explosion nearly knocked the unsuspecting ninja off their feet.

The heat forced more air to rise. Along with this, higher part of the skies the clouds cooled, causing it to rain. The cold raindrops hit hard against the exposed skin and with every drip of water that landed the enemy could feel a miniscule drain on their chakra. This caused them to further lose confidence in facing such a fearsome enemy.

Lightning continued to flash, spraying the seawater around as it smacked the surface of the ocean. With the flashes of lightning, fire-filled explosions would still occur despite the rain.

The Kage-nin were in a state of hopelessness. They couldn't have possibly in a more worse situation.

They had spent years on the order of their new Kage to search out the legendary Shinigami summoning seal, call forth their prized summon, then return with said warrior. But instead, they wasted all those years with failure, made an error in their calculations and incorrectly performed the summon, then allowed the Shinigami to fall into enemy hands, and angered the god of death.

Swearing as he struggled to stay above water, the jounin Taka tried to locate his other squad members. It was a miracle they weren't disastrously electrocuted yet. Then he looked up.

"Oh... fuck me..."

A huge swirl was forming in the sky.

The hot air from the lightning-induced flames rose and the cold air from the storm clouds fell, which caused the head of a tornado to form. Like a corkscrew, it twirled and spun downwards towards the ocean surface. Within several seconds the huge twister of wind and water smashed into the middle of the whirlpool and began to grow outwards to form an ever-expanding hurricane.

* * *

Together, Sakura and Shou watched over the course of the entire scene as the cataclysmic event drifted further and further away from them. But the winds were still rather strong, and the rain still hit them. Of course the chakra-drain affected her too, but Shou's hand constantly flowed with energy to keep her chakra levels up. If it wasn't for him she would have passed out within thirty seconds.

After watching for only a bit longer, the two turned around and walked toward shore.

When they got there, Sakura looked at the ship that had brought her here.

It was totally trashed and the crewmen were desperately trying to salvage what they could. Her mouth dropped open and a vein bulged. Then her hold on Shou's hand tightened with monstrous strength. He yelped in surprise and to no avail, tried to shake her off.

"G-aaaaaahhh! Ow! Ow! Let go!" He used his right hand to grab is left wrist and tried to pull away, but failed to do so. The pink haired Sannin's vice-grip of death continuously sent signals of pain to his brain.

"You idiot! You blew up the mountain and smashed up my ride home! How the hell am I going to get back home!? _**SHANNAROOOO!!!!**_"

* * *

Three words: Wow and lol.

Review please!


	4. Chapter 4

Got my wisdom teeth pulled, but I have I have a schedule to follow and fans to please (or obtain!)

This whole thing with Susanoo should be interesting, eh?

* * *

"_**Baka!**_ Not only did you wreck the ship you practically blew my targets into smithereens! All my hard work of tracking them down for nothing!"

Shou let out a sweat-drop.

"Um... you know, if they had died I would have let you know..." The Shinigami raised a finger to hopefully get her attention. He shouldn't have.

"And you let them_get away!?_ _**GRRR!**_"

If the almighty Susanoo, son of Izanagi, master of all elements, the exiled former-member of the head triumvirate, was afraid of anything... it was this mad-woman.

"Uh... Er... yes?" the poor guy cringed. Even in all of his black war-armor, fearsome as he appeared, it was hysterical to see how low he stooped to avoid the ninja's swinging punch. "W-wait! I can fix it! Just give me-" he ducked again, "-a second!"

Sakura stopped, put her hands on her hips, and started tapping her foot. The girl looked at him expectantly, waiting for something to happen. The white-robed death-god didn't waste a second. Clapping his hands together, he called forth chakra and did his magic. Instant results were showing. The broken pieces of the ship picked themselves up and began to realign themselves to form a familiar shape. Whatever parts that couldn't be found were replaced with nearby foliage from the broken forest.

In curiosity, the ship's crewmen stepped out of hiding and looked in wonder as their ship was renewed. Some even started shouting that it was a miracle.

When he was done, Shou turned to Sakura and hoped she was pleased. He was relieved to see a light smile was adorned on her face and her mood had changed for the better.

"How did you do that?" The medic-nin's voice called out to him.

"Hm?" Turning to face her, the great storm-god raised an eyebrow, even though no one could see behind his helmeted mask.

"How did you do..." She clapped her hands and copied his previous movements. "... that thing? You didn't even use any ninjutsu seals."

"Oh, this?" He copied her and let out a burst of chakra. "This is something they use for meditation. The chakra part is what's important."

Now she was the one to raise an eyebrow.

"Can you explain?... Please?" Her learning-crave was coming in, and so she stood patiently, hoping to glean some knowledge from a _god_.

"Let's go sit down first, this is going to be a long, long story." He motioned for a log near a campfire that was set up, now that the rain had died down. Despite her chronic depression, Sakura looked very excited to gain some insight to the tale behind chakra and she was going to hear it first hand from a great Shinigami who knew it from the formation of its existence. This was going to be a breakthrough, and she would be the first in her generation, or any generation to receive the honor of hearing the words of history passed down directly from the great Susanoo.

"Well it goes something like this. In order to know the fundamentals of how it works, you need to know the history of chakra. In fact, the gods didn't call it chakra at all. We called it _spiritual energy_ before humans came up with the name. Since then, the term just caught on since it was shorter.

How we channeled the chakra was the key element to our techniques. We would normally used martial art katas to weave the energy through our bodies. Some of you refer tothis as ki, but it's really just chakra whipping around through your body. Breathing, blood flow, and the proper mental control was required. This was the way my parents would create bodies of land and water on a whim. Of course, my brother, sister and I were born, and we inherited this life energy. The power to create and do things anyway we wanted, when we wanted. All that's required is sheer mental concentration and the chakra to mold.

Throughout time, we brought life to beings to serve our needs. When we gave them freedom, the servants, who had also inherited our chakra, mingled with human beings. Their children, and their children's children all gained the power to use chakra. It would be evident in their nature. Some would have extreme strength or speed. Others had luck with plants and water. There were even those who took longer to get burned than their fellow people.

But none of the new how to use it. To them, it was just a natural luck that they had acquired.

We god's knew better. It was the result of our doing and my father, Izanagi, grew disappointed in the people who shared some of our power. He was angry that the humans he created were infatuated with themselves and not working to do better for the planet as whole. That was when we allowed what you call the first ninja to appear, and we even allowed him to grant bloodlines. And through his own family line we gifted to him two great powers. Note that this is _waaayyy_ after the mythology and fables that are written in books. Maybe like thousands of years later. Anyway, back to the topic...

In a sense, he was like the messenger from the gods, literally, that had instructions for all the people. It is a false belief as some of you say that he was the first to have chakra, but he was indeed the first to be able to use it correctly. It did wonders. Teaching as he went, the people picked up on his lessons and methods. Eventually throughout the days, men and women were able to narrow the katas down to hand seals, effectively reducing the time and energy required to perform a deed. With every style and favor of techniques, villages formed to gather those who shared the same elemental affinities. Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Lightning. And of course there were those elements that nobody really knew how to utilize yet, but they still had their own villages. To each his own...

Then the wars started happening. Each village began to boast that their own method was the best way, and of course when that happens there is a conflict. The Five major powers of the world began to move and bring a campaign of destruction to the lands, forcing the smaller villages to evacuate and accelerate their practices in the chakra hand seals to better their defences.

With that said, in war time, everything moves faster. Those of us watching from above predicted that it would take several decades for human beings to figure things out, but it was all going so fast and out of control that it decades became several years, and years became months. Within two years, the villages had even obtain the means to use chakra with seals – not that seals weren't around. They were always around, warding off evil spirits and such. But those kind of seals did nothing against physical beings and such of the human realm. And with chakra, almost anything is possible, including the chakra-seals of today.

When the seals came into usage, the most common form was the explosion tag. That was the easiest to make, regardless of the complex designs, and it served its purpose well. Thousands of those came and went like day and night.

I said this before, in war time things are accelerated tremendously. So with that, even the complex seals became more advanced within such a short amount of time... which led to summons.

Each village gained access to summoning their own creature. Now, back then, they didn't know how to summon with just hand seals, but they still had animals to summon. The greatest of the nations, the Five Elemental powers gained the most, but it was the smaller nations that had the more powerful summons.

Among them was the ninja who used the elements of Shadow. It was the most draining element, but their techniques were so powerful that the other villages decided to save them for last. It was a good thing too, for that particular village was the smallest.

In that time, they discovered how to summon _me_."

Sakura sat on the sand against the log with her arms wrapped around her knees, eyes wide open. During Shou's tale, many of the men from the ship had gathered also, listening intently to the history lesson of a lifetime.

"W-what happened?" she asked with a quiver in her voice. He continued.

"At that time, I was exiled from heaven. Mainly because nee-chan and I got into a huge fight long before the rise of chakra. Give or take a hundred years."

"Nee-chan?"

"My older sister. Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun." He grunted and let out a deep sigh.

"What was the fight about?" A crewman asked. Shou looked up.

"Erm... Well I had to leave heaven on orders from father, not because I was bad, but because he wanted me to go to Yomi and visit mother. The old man couldn't do it himself 'cause it's dirty down there. I went to Amaterasu's palace, but she was suspicious of me. I was just visiting to say good-bye! So she challenged me... It was about how many servants we could create from each others possessions the fastest. She made three from my sword, I made five from her necklace. I _obviously_ won, but that stubborn idiot wouldn't accept it. So I threw a pony at her."

"You what?" The pink-haired ninja nearly shouted in surprise.

"Mhmm," the god of storm reluctantly shook his head. "And I destroyed her rice... fields. And no, I didn't kill anyone, that part of the story is wrong. Okay maybe one guy! He was looking at me funny!"

His audience gave him a "oh really" look.

"The pony was her favorite animal, and the fact that I thew it scared her a lot. Even though she could have blasted it to smithereens when it was coming at her face with her ever-burning fire, She knew that fighting with me would lead to her demise. Not that I would actually harm my own sister! But I did have mastery over all elements pertaining a storm – which are exactly all the major ones. Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Lighting. And a few others like Shadow I had worked hard for."

"Um, question..." The green-eyed medic meekly raised her hand. "How does the Doton element relate to a storm?"

"Sandstorm." Susanoo immediately replied. "Sand is an element of the earth, and eventually through the mastery of sand I was able to master the other methods involving rocks and dirt." Sakura nodded her head in understanding. It was sort of like reverse-engineering something. Shou had taken the sand, which was the finest form of an element. Then he took that and worked his way backwards to the more coarse materials.

"Moving on, back to my sister, Amaterasu. She was in charge of the sun and giving the planet a source of light. In fact, she was the one to give the sun it's power. But because I did such a stupid thing in my anger, nee-chan hid in the caves on Earth, and all the people suffered for it. These days were called the Dark Nights of Sorrow. Exactly seven days of cold darkness that covered the lands. Good thing someone put up stars...

… Oh yeah, so eventually some idiot devised a miraculous plan to get her out involving a very, very sacred mirror – which he shouldn't have touched! It was my older brother Tsukiyomi's! But worked nonetheless. But that's not the point!

I got banished from home for our fight and came to the mainlands of the human realm. There was a poor old couple that had been robbed of their seven daughters from the eight-headed freak snake Orochi. They had one daughter left and I felt sorry so I beat him, hands-down. No deceiving, tricking sake-shit. I heard the tale go around and wasn't too happy that people got it all wrong! Straight one-on-eight duel to the death. The family and I drank sake _afterward_ to _celebrate_, duh."

The crickets chirped in silence.

"Anyway, they offered their daughter's hand in marriage, which I accepted. She was nice..." He seemed to be lost in thought, then returned to continued, "My lineage continued from there, and then I went to fulfill my mission, even though I had been banished. Before that thought, I did pick up the spoils of battle from the dead snake's indestructible tail, and forged it into a weapon. Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, which means the Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven. I went back to heaven despite my banishment and presented it as a gift to nee-chan saying I was sorry.

And you know what she did? She renamed it Kusanagi. Who the hell names an indestructible sword _grass-mower!?_" He shook his fists in frustration.

"And on top of that, she accidentally trips and kicks it and it flies into some god-forsaken land in the middle of nowhere. Of course that freak Orochimaru guy picks it up millenniums later. I was practically pulling my hair out in Hell when I was watching that happen.

Back to main story!

So I was on my mission to Hell to visit mother. It was a happy family reunion but I couldn't get out! The bastards at the gate wouldn't let me because I had no identification. I was the son of Izanagi for crying out loud! Well, I dealt with it. Hell really was a gloomy place and all I could do was watch through spirit-mirrors, which is how I know of all that went on outside, hanging all over to see what was going on in the human world.

Luckily, the village of the Shadow element was able to correctly write the seals to summon me. Having been summoned, I was still getting over the gloominess and was kinda cranky about it. That and I wanted to rip something to shreds. But the joy of teaching them was good enough. I didn't need a sacrifice or anything like that, but it was only fair that I did so.

The only thing that I demanded was their devotion. In return, they gave it to me. They became my followers, and they referred to me as their _Kage_ who was always with them. That name became a part of a covenant I formed with them.

This is where the term kage came from. The other villages remembered this and named their leaders in similar manners, like Raikage, Mizukage, and such. Although this happened after the Great Battle.

Now, when the Shadow-nin, we'll call them that even though there were no official ninja then, needed an edge against their enemies. I figured normal hand seals took too long, so I had them memorize the way they molded chakra during their jutsus. Just like waving chakra during katas, they were molding it during hand seals. Theoretically they could take it to the next step and just purely mold chakra without moving their hands. By clapping their hands together and skipping one step, they could perform jutsus that they already knew as long as they knew how to direct the chakra flow the way they wanted.

Of course, if they wanted to use any other jutsus they'd have to learn it the normal way first."

Sakura stared in shock. If it was that easy, why didn't anyone think of it already? She wanted to try, but the ANBU remembered Shou mentioning that it took superb concentration and mental power. She wasn't feeling up to it at the moment, so the Sannin chose to listen to the god go on with his history lesson.

"After teaching them, the Great Battle was coming. At that point all the other nations had been conquered and the main forces of the armies were on their way. After exhaustion took them, I stepped into the fray and wiped out nearly everyone and everything in my path using jutsus to put even gods to shame. I won't name what they are, and will not ever use them again unless the situation is dire. As a result even the village of Kage fell to the unknown. I guess they have reformed themselves and are back now.

I don't know what they are planning, but if they summoned me then it probably wasn't good."

"When you fought those Kage-nin," the young woman commented, "they said they summoned you from Yomi, and you replied that it wasn't fun. Does that mean you were back in Hell?"

"Yeah," he replied grimly. "After the contract ended, since I was summoned from there, I got poofed back there. I was called the first Shinigami because I wasn't dead yet, but was in hell slaying as many demons as I could, gaining the title of Shinigami. I have to figure out a way to get out before this summoning period expires..."

"Mmm..." Sakura hummed in thought. She sat pondering about their situation.

"Oh yeah!" Susanoo jumped up. "That's right!"

Some of the crewmen were startled and nearly fell off their seats. The god of storm looked ominous in his attire as he towered over them. The average man in the lands was about five-foot-six-inches. The Shinigami seemed to be almost six feet in height. The death-god clapped his hands in a familiar way and a large scroll, about half his a meter tall appeared.

Unraveling it, he pointed to a spot and looked to Sakura.

"Before I mentioned that you needed to sign my contract. This is what makes our bond official."

She was taken by surprise.

"O-oh." Slowly the green-eyed kunoichi made her way forward, nearing toward the samurai-like warrior. Having to look up to see his face, she realized just how tall he was. Over the eight years since Naruto's return to Konoha, the Haruno had grown to be about 5'5". Of course, she was still shorter than Sasuke, who was 5'9" and Naruto, who was 5'8". Shou was taller than both of them, and taller than her by about nearly a whole head. Truly the ideal warriors height, taller than the average horse, and almost as tall as some warhorses! The medic-side of her mind began to wander, wondering about his weight, his speed, his strength, his body, his muscles, and...

Sakura snapped back to reality and shook away the blush that was forming on her face.

"You okay?" Shou asked, concerned. "You look kind of feverish..."

"No!" She shouted. "S-sorry, I'm just a little tired from today," she lied. Trying to see him clearly she look up again. It was only then that she realized that she had not seen his face. Nor had she seen any part of him at all. Everything was hidden under the armor and clothing that he wore, all the way up to his helmet and mask.

Inside her chest a burning desire to see his face exploded, causing her blush to return. She averted her eyes and looked at the scroll instead. The ninja-side of her decided that now wasn't the time to be thinking about such things. Ever.

Kneeling, Sakura bit her thumb and let the blood flow a little, then quickly wrote her name vertically on the column assigned to her. When she finished, she was confused when there was yet another boxed row beneath hers. The kunoichi looked to her summon in question.

"That's for a goal that you may have for yourself," the Shinigami explained. "When I started the contract scroll I wanted everyone who ever signed it to have a written goal, and so that I could know how to help them obtain it. Pretty clever idea to motivate them, right?" His eyes beamed of mirth.

Once again, Sakura didn't know what to do. All her life, her goal was to catch up to her teammates. When she was promoted to Konoha's Sannin-status and was acknowledged for her superior medical knowledge and ability, her goal was to fall in love again. But that dream was shattered. Right now, she was lost, confused, and felt disowned. How could she write something down when she didn't even know what her own goal was?

"I-I'm sorry," she painfully admitted, trying to hide it skillfully. "I don't think I could write one at this time..."

Seeing through her guise, Shou nodded and carefully rolled up the scroll. The storm-god watched her get up and walk away, her pace quickening with each step, and bangs covering her eyes.

He thought he saw something sparkle and hit the ground, but decided to let her be. Turning to the crewmen, he put on a 'smile' and began to bring back some of his infamous mischievousness.

"Hey! Who wants to play a game?" he asked, hoping to divert the attention away from his summoner.

The all shouted in excitement, eager to learn a game of the gods.

* * *

Ignoring the cheerful yelling and hollering of the crew at shore, Haruno Sakura walked toward the other side of the ship that was beached on the sand, away from them all. Leaning back against the hard wood and looking towards the moon, she slid down and began to let the tears fall. She couldn't help but think of the time she decided that she would never find love again.

'_I can't. Not now... I don't want to be hurt again. I can't. I can't..._'

* * *

A/N: This is interesting. Please Review! I endured a lot of agony to write this!


	5. Chapter 5

So I have updated... again. I'm on a roll, baby! I better get an award for this...

* * *

"Oi!" A boy called. "Captain! We're outta water!"

"Aw. Dammit." The ship's leader put his hands on his knees and got up, only to be pushed back down by a gentle hand. An armored hand.

"Don't worry, I got this." The friendly Shinigami went in his stead. But instead of walking toward the provisions where the boy had called from, Shou walked to the water's edge and form his trademark hand sign. Letting out a burst of chakra, he let the sand depress into the ground to form a rather large hole. Then calling forth wind, he made sure that the air was trapped to that particular area and a flow of oxygen was constantly within the forming cycle. Instantly a spark of lightning lit flames into life and the sand was heated to extreme levels, turning into glass.

In about two minutes, there was a glass bowl that was nearly 4 meters in diameter.

Using his newly made instrument, the storm-god Susanoo waved his hands and directed the ocean water into the air, and began to heat it with his elemental control. Having done that, the salt and impurities fell out as he captured the clean water. Once he was sure that the mass of liquid was suitable for drinking, he poured it into the sand-glassed container on the ground. The men and women of the crew were in awe.

"Drink up!" He cheered.

* * *

"That's the mission briefing. You have seventy-two hours to locate 'Cat' and bring her back to HQ. Dismissed!"

The four ANBU that were in the room dispersed and disappeared using a Sunshin-jutsu. Then out of the darkness, a familiar raven-haired Uchiha came into play.

"Sasuke. I thought I told _you_ to stay home... teme."

"I thought I told _you_ to go find her yourself and let me come with you... dobe."

The two locked in a stare-down, but failed to make the other lose.

"I would," the blonde sighed, "but I'm the Hokage and I need to stay here in case something happens. I should have given her the tri-kunai, dattebayo..."

"In case _what _happens? Like Orochimaru comes back from the grave? We all know you got rid of my seal for good when you dragged me back."

An eerie silence took over the room.

"Er. You mean when I dragged your _ass_ back to Konoha. And Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"Don't ever say something like that again."

"Hn..."

* * *

"So," a voice rang out from within a dark, candle-lit room. "You say you have the means to give our nation to rise again?"

"_Kukuku..._ that is, correct." A ragged voice replied.

"By applying these seals that you have administered and tested over several generations, you expect me to watch as a third of my men gain power, but the other sixty-percent die out?"

"Well, I'm not saying that _that many_ of them will die, but those are the chances, yes. This world is about survival of the fittesssttt...."

The man who asked the questions shifted his weight from his throne, so that his chin rested upon his left fist. He seemed to be lost in thought, debating whether he should take the offer or not.

"R-Ryuuji-sama..." a kneeling ninja vied to get his leader's attention, but the man waved his hand to silence him.

"I heard you were dead..." The man grinned. "Why is it that you show yourself after eight years from hiding, not with an army to conquer Konoha already?"

"Kuku... All things require time, Fujiyama-sama... likewise, before my plan can come to fruition and Konoha burns, I need time and resources."

"So you wish to see Konoha burn?" The Kagekage lifted an eyebrow, revealing his turquoise eye.

"Yessss..."

"Hmm... then we have an accord."

* * *

It was morning.

Bright, sunny day. Birds chirping. Trees glistening with dew. Ocean waters splashing.

All these things, Sakura saw and heard as her conscience began to wake up.

"Mmm!" She stretched, waving her arms high into the air. Then the pink-haired medic-nin relaxed in the warm sand, and pulled the blanket further over herself. Then she paused.

_Blanket? I don't remember going to sleep with a blanket..._

The Kunoichi recalled last night's events, with her crying herself to sleep against the ship's side.

_Then how did I get here..._

She looked up, and met a masked face.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

The Haruno girl nearly jumped, but was stayed by a strong arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"W-wha- how- when!" She blurted out unintentionally, unable to control her surprise.

"Sshhh, shhh." Shou calmed her down, "I saw you sleeping over there..." He motioned his chin to the ship's hidden side. "I thought you'd be cold so I carried you over here and made sure you stayed warm near the fire."

"O-oh..." She hid her cheeks under the blanket, hoping he hadn't seen them flare up. "T-thanks. You shouldn't have..."

_What is wrong with me!_ Sakura mentally shouted at her self.

"Heheh." He let out a sincere chuckle, gazing out at the sea.

"W-what?" She muttered.

"Boy, do you love to snuggle when you sleep!"

The young woman gasped in shock.

_I-I s-snuggle!?_

Before she could protest, Shou began to get up and stretch. Then he walked over to over and into the water. When he was about waist deep, he plunged. Bubbles formed where he once stood, popping for a good minute or two. They continued to pop until appearing for every couple minutes or so, then completely died out. When none came for the next three minutes Sakura began to panic.

"S-Shou?" the medic-nin could only whisper out. "Shou?... Shou... Shou!" She frantically got out of her sitting position and began to run toward the ocean in worry. Just as she was about to leap in to search for her summon he burst out of the water with a rather gigantic fish in his hands. It flopped around, trying to escape back into the water, but the god had a firm grip with his 'mouth.' The sharp edges of his mask effectively held the fish in place.

"I got breakfast," Susanoo replied through his teeth with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Shouuuuu...." Sakura's bangs covered her eyes, and a familiar tight fist was evident. "You made me worry... for a tuna!?"

"U-uhhh... no wait, I'm the god of the storms and sea! There's no way I would drown! I can breathe underwater-"

"_**SHANNNARROOOOOO!!!**_"

The crewmen felt the rumble of an impact and clucked their teeth in sympathy for the one who had to face the wrath of the rather scary Haruno Sakura.

* * *

"Was that really necessary? Haruno-san?" the captain scratched his beard, observing the rather fascinating sight before him.

"A-ahaha... no." Sakura put a hand behind her head in embarrassment.. "I guess not... I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me!" The man waved his hands in denial. "Go apologize to him. You knocked him out after all. Heheh."

"Eh..."

"Hah," the captain chuckled. "A woman's wrath knows no bounds..."

"What did you _say!?_" Sakura's aura darkened rather quickly.

"N-Nothing!" The crewman leader ran off.

She sighed. What was wrong with her today? Everything was just not going the way she wanted, and the worst of it all was that she had grown emotions that she had denied for the past several years. Now they were coming out full force, and she didn't now how to deal with them.

Walking onward, the medic-nin crouched down in front of the smoking, armored god who was currently lying on his back in a crater. His head was rolled back and the slits in his mask for eyes gone dark. As she was trained in the medical arts, Sakura began to administer a check-up and began to try and apply basic forms of chakra healing. Running her hands up and down, she discovered that his body's composition was nearly exactly like a human's. Everything was the same, of course, with the exception that she didn't check "down there" as courtesy to her patient.

Her cheeks burned red when she thought of that. It kept burning brighter as she felt up his muscles. They were like works of art on a man's flesh.

The odd thing though was that the impact of the punch should have broken bones. But here he was, not having any evidence of damage. Checking again, she realized that the bones were indeed different. The skeleton was structured the same, but the Carbon was realigned to be so much harder than regular bone. Stronger than titanium alloy even. And his muscle fibers were multiplied. The muscles overall kept the same shape as any other athletic man, but the density was so great, that from a medical standpoint, Sakura realized that he could probably dwarf her strength with ease. If he wanted, he could have flicked her with his pinky and she'd go flying across the world and come back around.

She moved on to scan his inner organs. To her surprise the Sannin once again saw that they looked the same, but were so different from human levels. His stomach and intestines were designed, in her theory anyway, to be able to powerfully bring out the most energy in any food, while still retaining an elasticity that would prevent any form of rupturing. His liver and kidneys processed and were able to filter pure acid if possible. His lungs, if not for the limited space of his chest, could expand so much that it would make a healthy person's lung like like a smoker's. Just as he had proclaimed, it was possible that Shou could breathe underwater, or hold his breath for extremely long periods of time.

Quickly bringing her senses to the outer layer of his body, the green-eyed medic scanned his skin. Just as she thought, it too was extraordinary. Just like a spider's silk, the dermis was capable of taking a blow without breaking even the slightest bit. The whole layer was resistant to extreme temperatures, and would give or take heat rather efficiently without losing any energy. Taking further notice of the nerve-endings within the deeper layers, she figured the storm-god could even sense vibrations within the air or ground. His skin was rather amazing. Not to mention that it probably looked amazing too.

Sakura then moved on to one of the most important parts of the human body. The head. Because of the mask's shape, she couldn't really tell what his face looked like, but she was able to determine that his senses were higher than top-notch. His ear canals were designed to receive the pitches that dog's couldn't even hear. She knew this because one time, as a medic, the ninja had helped Kiba's sister Hana at the vets. Even with that, Shou's ear drums would probably never burst. Ever. Moving on, she used her chakra to check his nose. It put Akamaru's to shame. Depending on the stress levels, the guy could probably smell a woman's perfume from across the country. Sakura also noticed that there was some kind of extra muscle there, probably to block out any unwanted smells, or to dull his olfactory senses. The kunoichi could understand why. Even she wouldn't want to smell everything with a billion-mile radius.

Monitoring his eyes, the pink-haired ANBU noticed that they were rather peculiar. Like a hawk's eyes, the pair was able to see farther than even a ninja's eyes, and like a snake's they could literally see infrared heat signatures. Thus in complete darkness he would be able to see his prey. It was actually a scary thought. Glazing over with chakra, she noticed that the pigmentation in his eyes would change, causing a shift in color from yellow to a brilliant blue. When she took away the chakra, she sensed that it snapped back to yellow. Funny.

Then there were the actual teeth. Of course she couldn't really tell the color, but by the way things looked he had a perfect smile. The only thing that caught her attention were his canine teeth. Those could do some real damage if he bit someone.

The strangest thing she noticed though was that he those very canine teeth were hollowed out and had some kind of canal that led to near the back of his head, to a some sort of twin-set of small pouches. Underneath those were another set of small pouches that led had canals leading to another set of teeth, right next to his first set of "fangs". The pouches themselves were very tough, capable of being tougher and more resistant than his own skin. Why it was that way, she didn't know until she bothered analyzing what was inside, forcing a gasp to escape her throat.

Within those two pairs of small organic pouches were two types of toxins, more potent than any snake venom she had ever dealt with in her life. The top set contained a formula of neurotoxin she couldn't figure out. By the composition of it, the substance would cause utter destruction of the nervous system and cause the victim's own system to electrocute themselves continuously until they fried inside out. The other pouch contained a type of hyper-advanced hemotoxin that caused the injected's cells to burst, giving off a series of over-energy dosage and theoretically that would cause the metabolism rate to quicken, forcing the heart to continuously increase its beat-rate and then physically implode on itself as the lungs burst from the increase in pressure.

From there, Sakura hypothesized that the two toxins would mix and to create an acidic content that would then melt away the internal evidence. Not to mention that like all snakes, his venoms contained hyaluronidase, causing the rapid diffusion of the toxins within the victim.

She cringed at the thought. One intentional bite from Yamato Shou and you'd be a goner in seconds. Good thing he had valves to control the flow of venom at will. That would even allow him to spit it at someone. Yeowch.

Sakura assumed that with such dangerous toxins flowing within his head, he must have an immunity to his own toxic secretions, like most snakes would.

Making sure that the glands were resistant enough, she sighed in relief. Her curiosity peaked when she noticed yet another set of pouches, but so much smaller. They were so small that she couldn't really even tell what was inside. Whatever it was, it wasn't poisonous or such. It was mostly water and bodily fluid, and the medic assumed it was for cleaning the valves after the venom was injected.

Not wanting to look at or think about poisonous things, Sakura went ahead and took a chakra-scan of a god's brain. Like all other parts of his body, it was also tough and damage resistant. But she couldn't find anything that made it different in terms of thinking. Maybe gods and human's thought alike? The only notable hint was that with larger areas here and there, she could tell that Susanoo was very capable of concentration and meditation beyond a master's. Other than that, nothing.

Having found no remarkable traits than the ones she found already, the ninja moved her glowing hands away from the brain and moved on towards the chest. She had saved monitoring his heart for last.

It was such a strong, powerful heart. It proved to be the most interesting aside from his hidden venom, giving off heartbeats that could potentially give a man fifty lifetimes and over. And it sounded so healthy, with a nice sound every time it pumped his circulatory system.

The pink-haired woman put her ear to his armored chest, hoping to hear something. She did.

It was one of the sounds she loved most.

It proved that her patients had a healthy body and that they would live a good life, which was always a joyful thing for a medic. To hear that your patient is more than just okay... this was one of the direct ways that she would never experience again. Only through a stethoscope.

If only she could continue to hear it for a bit longer...

She closed her eyes and searched for that sound, satisfied to know it was there.

"Egh... Aaaahhh... Oohh, oww..." A familiar voice was heard.

Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and she got off of her "patient".

"S-Sakura?" Shou looked down and was startled as he found the pink-haired Sannin kneeling between his sprawled out legs and her hands on his chest.

"A-ah!" She waved her hands. "T-this isn't what it looks like!" The Haruno desparately tried to cover up the situation.

"Uh..." He could only stare. Then he heard it crack. She heard it too.

His helmet and mask broke into pieces and it all fell to the ground. They both saw each other face to face for the first time. Or rather, Sakura was seeing his face for the first time... and her gaze couldn't be averted this time. In all of his glory, Yamato Shou's face was shining brightly in the sunlight.

Unmasked or not, Shou could only stare at Sakura's expression. She had the same expression donned upon her face. The same, dumb, surprised look with wide eyes and a partially agape mouth. He closed his. Hers stayed open. Yet their eyes never broke contact.

Inside the mind of Sakura, one thought was reverberating continuously.

_What do I do? I've fallen in love, but..._

One look at him and she knew. She knew that she had completely fallen in love with him. Before it was his attitude and personality that had won her over. Next was his charm and sincerity. Last but not least, was his looks. His body and face could make women fall head over heels for him... which was what was happening to her right now. It took every ounce of will in her body not to just fall on top of him and profess her feelings. She had only known him for a day or so, but... in her heart she was nearly ready to accept.

The only thing keeping her from doing just that was her fear.

Fear of being hurt.

_I've fallen in love, but... I'm afraid._

She had been hurt by her crush, and teammate.

_Sasuke._

She had been left behind by her best friend.

_Naruto._

She had experienced pain she didn't know how to handle. And with it, such emotions that she kept inside a jar were now overflowing. A blizzard of feelings flashed through her eyes, every bit of it, the death-god was able to see. He watched as the seconds rolled by and more than a dozen emotions flew through with her expressions. Coming and going, never stopping, forming a deeper frustration within her conscience.

He watched as the tears formed, and that was when he couldn't take it anymore.

Shou wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for the biggest hug he could give.

* * *

A/N: Whew. That was a bit longer than I intended. It's 3 in the morning. I should probably go to bed lolz. Please, please review! I need to know how I'm doing!


	6. Chapter 6

So some of you may have noticed that Shou's body has similarities to a certain main character from my other story. But I assure you. Their personalities are different and Shou has years of experience under his belt. The most notable difference is that he is an effin' god and direct son of the Big Man in the sky (literally. Izanagi is his father!), and member of the [ex] member of the head-triumvirate of Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo.

I really want to hurry this up and get to the better plot points, but of course... I must take my time because rushing is never a good thing for a story. Unless, you know. You like the idea of me dragging things on and on and on and on...

Basically for me, this took a little longer to get out because I had an outline for the first five chapters or so. Then I had to organize all my thoughts to make sure the plot wasn't all jumbled, because that would be bad.

* * *

Her eyes fluttered, opening and closing, trying to blink away tears.

"It's okay," Shou whispered into her ear, rubbing her back softly. "Sshhhh..." He leaned in closer to try and hold her closer.

"S-sorry," the pink-haired girl began to lift herself, hands still on his chest. "I don't know what came over me..." She proceeded to wipe away a few lingering tears. Her eyes began to wander, and her brow furrowed, showing she was trying to figure something out. "I... I guess..."

The Shinigami lay waiting for her to continue.

"I guess I feel all alone..." the medic's head hung low and a few sniffles were heard with her hands dropping down by her knees. At that very declaration, he knew exactly what was wrong, and the unmasked warrior decided it was his turn to speak. To Sakura's surprise, he took his forefinger and raised her head so that he could look into her eyes clearly. When he had her attention, Shou lowered his left arm.

"Sakura. I want you to know..." His face was unchanged, solid in his compassion and gentleness. "... you and I, even though I've only been around for a day and half..."

"Mmm..." She wasn't liking where this was going.

"We share something that cannot be broken. You and I are linked through a bond that is unlike anything in this world."

That shocked her greatly. But the storm-god didn't stop there.

"If you're alone, I will never leave or abandon you. I will always be there for you." Susanoo felt the irresistible urge to turn his gaze away and scratch the back of his neck as a blush was forming on his face. Regardless of what he felt, it was still a ridiculously bold statement to be stated. However, he kept his composure and looked forward, only to see the Haruno's frozen expression. Not knowing what to say, the great being patiently waited for her reply.

As fast as she had become shocked, the impacted emotion wore off and Sakura's face donned a light smile.

* * *

The death god and his summoner walked around the corner of the rubble from their previous conflict.

As soon as the two did, they noticed something was incredibly off about the atmosphere of the area. The crew's workers seemed to be as stiff as statues, trying to remain absolutely still as Shou and Sakura walked past them. The duo began to realize that their faces where contorted and even one of the crewman's lips were so tightly pressed with his cheeks puffing out.

Other than the mens' expressions, the women were absolutely shameless in displaying their looks of infatuation. They could not contain themselves upon looking at the great Susanoo's amazingly well-figured appearance. This really annoyed the Slug Sannin and the woman had to hold herself back before she blew up punching everything to smithereens.

Not being able to take the snickering anymore, the pink-haired ANBU burst out,

"What's so funny!?" She whipped around, trying to find the perpetrators.

"Bwahahaha!" The men and women began to explode in laughter. They could not hold it anymore.

"I will never leave yoouuuuu~! I will always be there for youuu~!" A random crewman behind her jeered. He was laughing so hard tears were coming out. "Did you guys _get it on_ while you were at it?"

"_Shanna-_" She was stopped as a firm hand gripped her shoulder. When she turned to see who did, the Haruno wished she hadn't.

Shou's face was of absolute, murderous terror. A dark shadow had enshrouded most of it, but his white teeth and fangs were clearly visible. But that wasn't the worst of it, as his eyes glowed an eerie yellow that could pierce the souls of even the most guarded. To accompany his fury, a low, wolf-like growl rumbled from his throat.

The man almost wet himself before proclaiming his apology.

Almost instantly as a "sorry" was heard the god's demeanor receded and the creepy storm clouds that had seemed to hover overhead disappeared.

Sakura watched with her jaw slightly hanging as a light, chipper grin returned to her summon's face.

The crew didn't attempt to laugh at the two again.

* * *

The kunoichi stood by the side of the ship as a cool ocean breeze helped to cool down her reddened face.

After what had happened in that crater, there was no way she could stop blushing every time the thought crossed her mind. Gripping the edge, she peered over, hoping to see something exciting. But all she saw was water and crashing waves.

Footsteps came up from behind, and the she found the death god standing next to her looking out into the sea. Seeing this as a great opportunity for a conversation, she decided to speak first.

"Hey, Shou?"

"Hm?" His eyes darted to his left to meet hers, and his gaze was caught. The woman struggled not to get lost in those mysterious suns that seemed to just illuminate his face.

"U-uh... I was wondering," the medic-nin rested her elbows on the rail and lay her cheek on her hands. "When you were knocked out... I w-was..."

"... You were?" He turned his head to hear better.

"I-I was using my chakra to do a check-up on you."

"Oh." He was getting the feeling this was going to get awkward. "A-and?"

"Well..." The ninja's face scrunched up in confusion. "I looked and there were lots of new things that I learned. Like your body is so similar to a human being's but almost superhuman. And that..."

He was waiting.

"That and you have these pouches and glands in your head... and snake fangs..." She looked to him for an explanation.

"Oh, those?" His expression was one of relief. "I got those from slaying Orochi."

"Orochi? You mean the eight-headed snake you defeated?" She was surprised. "That still doesn't tell me-"

"When a god defeats a great beast," Shou cut her off, "or another god, he can choose to take an ability or power of the one he beats. So when I beat Orochi..."

"You chose to take his snakey-ness." He laughed at that one.

"Yeah. Pretty much. Thanks to that bastard I can see in the dark, inject venom, and have a sixth sense." The ninja-doctor raised her eyebrow at that one.

"A sixth sense?" She inquired.

"Well... It's more like an mind-extension thing. It's 'cause the freak had eight heads, which means he had eight minds. So I can extend my mind for synchronization with another person. It makes me feel all tingly though... ugh." He shivered.

"How does it work?" Sakura straightened herself and stood facing him now.

"I guess this brings us to our next topic." Shou let out a big grin. "It's time to train in the arts I have prepared for you."

* * *

The green-eyed ANBU shifted her weight as the water moved beneath her feet. Currently, she was standing on top of the ocean's surface, with Shou not far away.

Not to worry, the ship was free-floating as the men where casting their nets for fish.

Ignoring the shouts of working people, Shou called to Sakura.

"Okay, this is how it works. Basically, I reach out to you with my mind, but you maintain control. Then you get to move me like a puppet. But we're sort of synchronized so if you punch, I punch. You kick, I kick. So and so. Also any ninjutsu you do, I do. It's almost like I'm copying you exactly when you do it!"

"Alright..." Sakura suddenly got a flash of Ino's, Sasuke's, Kankurou's, and Chiyo-sama's face in her mind. "Why does this feel familiar..."

"Oh yeah! Remember that anything you know, I know, and I know, you know! Okay I'm starting!" The infamous clapped hand seal appeared.

"Wait, _what!?_" Sakura panicked. Anything she knew he was going to find out!? Before she could protest, she could feel a coolness within her head, as if someone had poured cold water into the insides of her skull. She quivered as the odd sensation flowed throughout her body.

_Hello? Can you hear me?_ A familiar male voice rang within her mind. _Ah, ah... testing, one, two, three... Heheh._

_Um? Hello? Shou? _Sakura thought.

_Hmmm, not bad..._

_What is?_

_You have the ideal measurements for your height..._

Sakura screamed. Both in and out of her mindscape.

"Ooohh!" Shou's eyes spun within their sockets as he received the mental and physical reverberation of her loud outburst. He felt woozy.

"Stop that!" the kunoichi scolded. "Pervert!"

"W-whaa!" his jaw dropped. "I am not!"

"You are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

The arguing continued as the captain sighed, puffing on his pipe trying to ignore there continuous shouts back and forth.

* * *

The ship reached land.

Susanoo let a sigh escape his mouth and rubbed the back of his sore neck. They had not been able to accomplish any training because they were too engrossed with debating trivial things.

Who would have known she would get so flustered with a little joke? And it was complimentary too!

Walking out onto the port with his pink-haired summoner right behind him, the Shinigami raised his hands to his head and began to feed chakra to it. Slowly, the once-broken mask he had left behind began to appear out of thin air. He then glanced back and forth, like an animal that had sensed its prey nearby.

Sakura took notice of this, but didn't have her ANBU mask to do the same. She had left it back in the temple on the island with the exploded mountain. It was probably buried under all that rubble.

Using her trained senses, the ninja felt several chakra spikes coming their way.

Immediately, four Konoha ANBU appeared in front of the two.

"Haruno Sakura," the female of the group called for her. "You are to return to inside Konoha's walls immediately and report to the Hokage."

* * *

A/N: Whew. Another one done. On to the next one.

BTW, just remember your three R's! **Read, Review, and Recommend!**


	7. Chapter 7

So it's been a little while since I last updated, but I am currently attempting to get back on schedule. My Second Semester has started and I'm trying to keep all my work in order. But fear not! I am quite devoted to his story.

Here it is, Chapter 7 for all to enjoy.

* * *

The lead ANBU took a step forward.

"Haruno Sakura, your Registration Number: 012601. State your current status-" He stopped. "Who are you?"

A black-armored, white-robed, fully masked, Samurai-warrior was protectively hovering over the targeted kunoichi, intimidating in both height and demeanor.

Sakura herself looked confused and nearly clueless, and the man assumed she was in danger. Seeing this, the ANBU in front formed a Hitsuji (Ram) hand seal and manipulated his shadow to quickly take over the imposing threat. However, upon his success in connecting the two shadows, he found himself unable to control his_ own_ body.

"W-what!?" he was stuck in his previous position, unable to maneuver as he wished.

"My turn." The white-clad being took a two steps forward, but the pineapple-haired ninja still found himself frozen.

"Shikamaru!" the blonde female cried out for her teammate, not caring if she revealed identities. Said blonde drew two kunai and threw them, hoping to immobilize the ever-advancing monster of a person. The very weapons she threw simply hit and bounced off, clanging as if they had hit some kind of hidden armor. She was sure she had thrown at his unarmored areas. Even if he had some plating underneath, it still should have left a rip or a dent.

No such markings were evident.

"You will kneel," the being muttered with a low voice. Shikamaru did just that, unable to resist. It was as if his body was not his own. He made note that his and the man's shadows were still intact.

"I'll save you! Shikamaru!" The third ninja, a bit large in size, jumped at the enemy. "Baika no Jutsu! (Expansion Technique) Nikudan Sensha! (Human Bulllet Tank)"

"C-Chouji!" Shikamaru shouted, fearing that if the enemy bound in shadow were too be crushed, he would feel the pain too. "W-wait! I-I said-"

Before the gigantic human boulder even came within a meter's distance, the offender raised his hand and caught the Akimichi within his palm. Though Chouji continued to roll with all his might, the warrior's arm did not even budge, nor did his position even shift a millimeter. Having tired out, Chouji reverted back to his normal size with a big poof.

The fourth ninja, seemingly inactive in the fight, was actually preparing for a much more devastating attack.

"Hakke Rokkujuuyon Sho!" The long-haired male lunged at the seemingly invincible power that stood before him. At the same time, Ino was preparing her technique to make sure the target remained immobilized. It would be like beating a standing rag-doll. But to their surprise, the Yamanaka was quite still instead.

"U-uh.. ugh... ergh.." a few sounds of struggle gargled from her lips. She was frozen by her own jutsu.

Neji, having already initiated his formation, proceeded to followed through with his technique.

To everyone's shock, the armored adversary simply stood still. It was Sakura who had jumped in front of him with her arms open wide, using her own body as a shield.

Seeing this, Neji immediately recalled his strikes and stumbled backwards.

"Shou! Stop this right now!" the Haruno shouted. He complied, freeing Shikamaru and Ino from their state of immobility. Whatever it was, the ANBU squad from Konoha was rather surprised at the appearance of this chakra-powered warrior.

"Who's the samurai-dude?" Chouji dared to ask, dusting himself off as he stood up. This ticked off the Haruno.

"He's not a _samurai_," the kunoichi stressed. Then the ninja paused, contemplating if she should tell them. "He doesn't have a sword."

"True, true," Shikamaru was now getting up, still a little shaky from the forced kneeling. "That's the first time anyone's ever reversed my jutsu on me. Or Ino. Troublesome."

Neji remained silent, helping the gagging Ino regain her composure.

"So can you tell us what's going on?" the Nara now asked. His arms hung by his sides lazily, hands on his hips. "We weren't informed of someone accompanying you on the mission."

"There wasn't," she interjected. "He followed me."

There was silence.

"That still doesn't explain-"

"Just take me to Naruto," Sakura interrupted. "He'll know what's going on. We'll talk about it on the way back."

As much as Shikamaru didn't want to take a foreign person he'd never seen before with a woman who had been missing in action, he had no other options. His priority was to get Haruno Sakura within Konoha's walls as soon as possible. And he'd do just as he was ordered, per orders of the Hokage.

Troublesome.

* * *

The group of six were currently jumping through trees and thick forestation.

Despite their best efforts, the other four ANBU could not help but glance back at the pair behind them. Such an odd set they were. A tall, ominous figure with armor as dark as the night, but with clothing underneath that was as white as snow. Several plates of this dark metal covered his arms here and there, two plates over his chest and upper back, and two more on the side of his thighs. The piece that gave them the most chills was his helmet-mask. It was shinobi-like, but not quite. Fangs were a part of the mask, but not separate. His head piece ornamented on his forehead that dipped down to the bridge of his nose.

And that's where those very chills came in.

The eyes. His bright golden-yellow eyes pierced their gazes from within the darkness.

Next to the man was the shorter Sakura. She was of average woman height, fully matured and athletic. Of course, in no means was she muscular in that sense, but she did have them. But her ANBU uniform stuck tightly to her figure and showed off every curve, every line of shape.

Most importantly though, was her expression. Apart from her mysterious companion, she was rather downcast, and a frown would be on her face nearly all the time. The kunoichi's eyes had always been full of sadness, depression, and anxiety. Dark circles had constantly plagued her eyes, screaming with silent outbursts of exhaustion, yet the Slug Sannin would keep pushing herself like a crazed workaholic. But despite her former countenance, the ninja noticed how quickly her outlook had changed once she had started talking to this new found friend of hers. It was almost like magic.

It was almost amazing how good of a listener he was. With every comment or statement, he would nod his head cheerfully and give the appropriate response, however so quiet that the four other ninja could not hear so well. Every now and then, he would say something, and Sakura would laugh accordingly, and the pink-haired girl's entire face would just light up in mirth.

This did not escape Ino's eyes. Of course Ino would notice the change in her best friend's previous sour behavior. The blond kept this in mind and continued to run forward.

* * *

Neji landed in a clearing, slowing down to a complete stop from a light trod.

"This is where we'll camp for the night," Shikamaru simply stated. He took out a scroll and unsealed a tent as Chouji followed suit. There was a problem. "Erm..." Shikamaru scratched his head. Where was Sakura and her friend going to sleep? Not that they'd sleep in the same tent... Before he could even suggest any ideas, the foreigner clapped his hands together into a hand seal the pineapple-haired boy had never seen used that way before. The Nara sensed a burst of chakra and then almost jumped out of his suit when trees started sprouting from the ground.

Every one of them was surprised, even the green Haruno who seemed to know the most about him.

In five seconds flat, there was a wooden cabin of about two stories high. Quite large, too.

* * *

"So, can someone explain to me why your friend can use Mokuton (Wood Element) Jutsu?" Ino directed her question toward a certain someone.

"I-I don't know..." Sakura turned to her companion. "I never asked." The green eyes were pleading, asking whether or not she should tell the truth.

"Something tells _me_ that your not telling _us_ something." The Yamanka continued. "It's time we got on even grounds, forehead."

Ino took a step forward. Unexpectedly, so did the pink-haired kunoichi's companion. The female dared to take another step. Likewise, the man followed suit, taking another step closer. Gulping down a bit of saliva that had pooled within her mouth, the blonde swallowed up her fears and advanced one more step. The silent adversary did so again without any hesitation. Soon, she was taking a step. Then he, likewise. And then another. And he also. Then she took two steps. He two more as well.

Soon they were in each others faces, unnerved by the menacing look in each others' eyes.

Ino let a low growl.

So did he.

Sparks could be seen between their glares as the others watched with a sweat drop rolling down their heads.

"U-uh, guys..." Chouji was rather uncomfortable with his wife having a very intense stare-down with such a tall, strong-looking, scary warrior-type man. "C-can't you"

"Shut up!" Both of them yelled, surprising everyone, effectively eliminating any chances of interference. After several more seconds passed, the both of them relaxed at the same time.

"You know," Ino smirked, "you're not bad. Normally any guy who gets my icey-stare doesn't have the balls to stay in the same spot, let alone come towards me."

"Same goes for you." It was now his turn to speak, shocking them even more that he had actually opened up to talk to the rest of them and not Sakura exclusively. Well, Ino anyway. "Any man who's seen my death-gaze usually has a heart attack on the spot. Or wets themselves..."

"Well excuuuse me, I am _not_ a man." The mind-manipulating ninja laughed.

"You sure?"

Sakura nearly went frigid at that one when she saw the vein pop on her best friend's forehead. Chouji had to hold her back as she swore obscenities for thirty minutes.

"Do you wish to introduce yourself?" Neji now broke the ice. The one in question seemed to ponder for a second. He turned to the woman behind him for approval. She simply shrugged her shoulders and signaled that it was in his hands. Sighing, he straightened his back, no longer hunching, so that they could all see him in his full height. It startled them. He was nearly as tall as the late Jiraiya, the former Toad Sannin! But the very fact was, that instead of sandals he wore boots, and he had an ornamental masked helmet, which certainly helped to increase the appearance in his height.

Overall he looked like he was over six feet. Compared to the rest of them who were just barely five-foot-nine and under, he was a flippin' giant.

He focused on the topic at hand.

"I am Yamato Shou, a being summoned through a contract between Sakura and I."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at this.

"So... you're not human?"

"No," the armored warrior replied. "I never was. Ever."

"Then, what are you?" Neji asked. Everyone was anticipating the answer. Sakura shuffled her feet in nervousness, thoughts racing around how they would react. Shou reached for her hand, which was soon grasped with gentleness. This didn't go unnoticed by the rest of them, but the four were soon distracting by his ever-glowing sun-like orbs.

"I am a Shinigami, formerly known as Susanoo, son of Izanagi, former member of the Head Triumvirate."

* * *

A/N: Oof. Man, that took a long while to write. Stupid school.

Ah, well, I got to go, probably update really soon. Please remember the 3R's! You know? The thing I mentioned in the previous chapter?

Eh? Come on!


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